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The series "When I Walked Through Walls", realized over the course of a year in 2008, acts as both a document of, and an emotional farewell to my dying grandmother. Through images of her, her room and effects, it offers a final glimpse of a life as it slips out of view.
I grew up with my grandmother, but during her illness our roles inverted: I became her carer and she became the child. I would often return home to stay with her and I spent long days sitting at the end of her bed, waiting: waiting for her to wake up, waiting to give her a sip of water, waiting for her to die or waiting for a miracle.
Once she asked me why I had to photograph her so much. I told her it was the only way to keep her with me a little bit; she told me to continue photographing.
The last image was taken one month before she died.
Currently I am preparing the book "When I Walked Through Walls" due for publication in Autumn 2010 with a foreword by renowned art critic Ian Jeffrey.
http://www.wheniwalkedthroughwalls.com

Paola Leonardi's series "Undrawn Hours" was created at NES Artist Residency in Skagastrond, northen Iceland, during February-March 2010; it presents a photographic exploration of the remote Skagi peninsula.
http://www.undrawnhours.com
The series Undrawn Hours was sponsored by the Arts Council England
Scourged by winter storms and drained by the economic recession, this area is littered with abandoned farms and unused summer cabins, broken sheds and decommissioned boats, a stark reminder of the depopulation and decay of local farming and fishing industry.
Leonardi uses the photographic medium to trace the human imprint on the territory, a lyrical depiction of the shift in human geography that has lead to the abandonment of the countryside and decline of manual industry.
The harsh weather made human encounters rare and the structures that remain have become relics abandoned in a sea of hay and ice, reminders of a past human presence.